Final Score

by Michelle Betham

  *

  Jim leaned back against the huge floor-to-ceiling windows in Max’s office, looking around the vast space in front of him.

  ‘This is some place you’ve got here, Max. I thought my office at Parkfield was big, but this is something else.’

  ‘Sometimes I think it’s a little over the top, but…’ Max shrugged, sitting down on the edge of his desk. ‘This is me.’

  Jim smiled, looking down briefly, shoving his hands in his pockets. ‘I can’t thank you enough, by the way.’ He looked up at Max, a genuine expression of gratitude on his face. ‘For doing this.’

  ‘Nothing’s definite yet, Jim. There are still a number of hurdles to get over.’

  ‘His contract’s up at the end of the season. All you have to do is make sure Newcastle Red Star don’t offer him a new one. Make sure his choices are limited. That’s all we need to do.’

  ‘For a man who’s been in this game for as long as you have, Jim, you’re coming across as extremely naïve.’

  ‘I’m desperate, Max.’

  ‘You’ve seen how Red Star’s season has panned out since you left. They’ve gone from a club to be reckoned with, down to mid-table mediocre. Now, I know that isn’t just due to your leaving – but it was the catalyst for all the unrest and uncertainty, wasn’t it? What happened with Ryan…?’

  Jim looked down again, scuffing the heel of his shoe on the skirting board in an almost nervous manner. ‘I really am sorry for that, Max.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Max sighed, clasping his hands together in his lap. ‘I know you are. But it didn’t help, did it? Getting Ryan banned, all the changes Red Star had to make in his absence. And then look what happens the second he comes back to the first team – they’re winning matches again. Convincingly. And I’ve never been a great believer that one player can make a team but where Ryan Fisher’s concerned I’m beginning to think that’s true. In his case. Trying to convince Dave French and the Board of Directors not to renew his contract is going to be a tough job. You know their Chief Executive as well as I do, Jim, and he’s a tough nut to crack in terms of trying to get him to do something he doesn’t agree with. And there’s the other thing we have to contend with – the fact that Ryan can just walk at the end of this season. His contract’s up, he’s under no obligation to anyone, and, quite frankly, if he’s still got his heart set on moving back down south, both you and I know there are clubs desperate to sign him. Whatever he’s done in the past, however unpredictable he may once have been, Ryan Fisher is still one hell of a player, and he could walk straight into any club he chose. He’s that good.’

  Jim fixed Max with a look. ‘Then you’ll just have to make sure he chooses the right club, aren’t you?’

  ‘I can only do so much, Jim. I’ve put the ground work in, put those feelers out and talked to the people who matter, and they want him. They do. They want him. But persuading him… Does it really have to be this way?’

  ‘You care about him, right? I mean, you’ve been with him through so much, and you care about him.’

  ‘I love the kid, if I’m being honest. He’s like the son I never had. But I also care about Amber…’

  ‘Let me worry about Amber.’

  ‘If she finds out what you’re doing…’

  ‘I said, let me worry about Amber.’

  ‘She still cares about him, too, Jim. And you fighting it like this, isn’t it only going to make things worse? In the long run?’

  Jim said nothing for a beat or two, his eyes back down on the floor. ‘You want what’s best for him, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Max sighed, standing up and walking back over to his wall of photographs. ‘Of course I want what’s best for him. But this…’ He turned around, his eyes fixed on Jim, who was still staring down at the floor. ‘This feels wrong. I’m his agent, and I don’t think this is in his best interests.’

  Jim’s head shot up, his eyes burning into Max’s. ‘I won’t lose her to him, Max. Not again. Too much has gone on, and I’m not strong enough to go through it all again.’

  ‘You really need to stop being so paranoid. Amber isn’t going anywhere.’

  ‘Maybe not. But the longer he’s around, the more chance there is that he can do more damage.’

  ‘He’s not the one causing the damage here, Jim.’

  ‘The longer he’s around, the more chance there is of him getting back under her skin. He’s the father of her baby and I can’t compete with that bond.’

  Max leaned back against the wall, watching as Jim walked over, his eyes going straight to the photo of Amber.

  ‘I fell in love with her a long time ago, Max. And all those years I tried to deny those feelings I had for her… all those years I wasted. I can’t do that again.’

  ‘But you’re skating on such thin ice here, Jim. What you’re trying to do is immoral, and in a way it’s cruel.’

  He didn’t move his eyes away from the photograph. ‘And I’m sorry. But this woman here, I can’t risk losing her.’

  ‘This is crazy. I don’t even know why I agreed to get involved with this.’

  This time Jim directed his gaze straight at Max. ‘You know it’s for the best, Max. He won’t stop, because he’s tried… he’s tried…’

  Max frowned. ‘He’s tried, what?’

  ‘She nearly gave in to him.’ Jim’s voice was quiet as his eyes turned back to the photo of Amber. ‘She nearly slept with him, and just thinking of him that close to her again…’

  ‘When? Jim, when did this happen?’

  ‘When she spent those few days up in Newcastle a little while ago. And she knew, going back up there – she knew what would happen. And I honestly believe that’s why she went back there. Because she knew what would happen.’ He turned and walked back over to the window, looking out at a crowded Covent Garden. ‘And if you let him sign for a London club then it’ll happen again, and again. It’s not that I don’t trust her, Max, it’s just…’ He turned around, leaning back, his hands back in his pockets. ‘I just can’t risk it.’

  ‘She won’t go back to him, Jim.’

  ‘Well, then we have the other problem, don’t we?’

  ‘Other problem?’ Max asked, frowning again.

  ‘She rejects him, she tells him no, but she lets it all happen first, because that’s a possibility. Whether you choose to believe that or not, it’s a possibility. Because he gets to her, Max, and of course she still has feelings for him. He’s the father of her baby. He is never gonna be out of her life, whether I like it or not…’

  ‘What other problem, Jim?’

  ‘If he won’t give up on her; if he continues to pursue her in some vain hope that one day she’ll fall completely, who’s to say what might happen? And if he chooses to go down that route he’s chosen before, the route that enables him to push things aside and forget all the shit that’s going on… if he chooses to go back to his old ways when she rejects him, that could destroy him. Really destroy him. And as much as I would once have loved to see that happen, I don’t think he deserves that. He’s a talent. He’s a great player. One of the best of his generation. But if he stays here…’

  ‘You’re assuming so much, Jim.’

  Jim held Max’s gaze. ‘Are you saying you don’t agree with me?’

  ‘I’m not saying…’ Max sighed, closing his eyes for a second, wondering how the hell he’d got himself into this.

  ‘Why did you really get involved when I asked you to help me, Max?’

  Max opened his eyes and looked at Jim. ‘Because every word you’ve said, in some warped and surreal way – every word you’ve said makes sense.’

  ‘Then all that’s left for you to do is persuade him it makes sense, too.’

  *

  ‘So, when are you going back home?’ Ronnie asked, gently rocking Rico’s pushchair with his foot.

  ‘In a few days. It’s nice, being here, away from it all for a little while.’

  Ronnie raised an eyebrow. ‘Away from it all?’r />
  ‘You have an ability to read anything into a perfectly innocent comment, do you know that?’

  ‘You don’t miss the old man, then? Old being the operative word, too. How old is he now?’

  ‘I’m not getting into this.’

  ‘Fifty years old, and he doesn’t look a day over forty… he’s such a lucky fucking bastard.’

  Amber ignored him, her eyes going to Rico instead, but he was asleep now, shaded from the sunshine, his arms wrapped around his tiny toy rabbit.

  ‘We’re thinking of having a big party sometime over the summer. Maybe around my birthday. We never had any kind of wedding celebration after we got back from Vegas, and my dad wants to do something.’

  ‘A wedding reception, huh?’

  ‘If that’s what you want to call it. Jim and I are even talking about renewing our vows in church, back up in Newcastle. I think my dad really wants to do the traditional thing, you know? The whole giving-me-away thing, the father-of-the-bride speech, you know how it is.’

  ‘Well, to be fair to Freddie, you have kind of taken all that away from him, haven’t you? Twice.’

  ‘And he can have it all if we decide to go ahead with the service and the reception.’

  ‘What’s stopping you?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘You’re doing it again.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Reading something into a perfectly innocent comment.’

  ‘Well, it’s just that, if you really love Jim as much as you say you do, why even hesitate at the chance to marry him all over again? I would have thought you’d have been on it so fast you wouldn’t stop to take a breath.’

  ‘There’s a lot going on right now, that’s all.’

  ‘Like what? He’s only got to win one more game and he’s won another League title, and, let’s face it, the bookies have stopped taking bets on Endleigh United becoming champions because it’s almost a forgone conclusion. And, I’m guessing here, but I suspect Jim would quite like to get you back up that aisle before the champagne’s gone flat from the league-winning celebrations, just to make sure you don’t wander off anywhere again. So, that just leaves you, Amber. What’s your reason for stalling, huh?’

  ‘You know, I’m really tired of this, Ronnie.’

  He leaned forward, folding his arms on the table in front of him. ‘Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t still feel something for Ryan.’

  ‘Of course I still feel something for him. He’s Rico’s daddy…’

  ‘Forget all that daddy crap. I’m not talking about the feelings you have for him as that baby’s father. That goes without saying. I’m talking about the feelings you still have for him as a man you once had a relationship with.’

  ‘Past tense. You’ve just used it. I once had a relationship with him. It’s over now.’

  ‘Really?’ He raised a questioning eyebrow, and Amber looked down, watching her fingers as they fiddled with her wedding ring.

  ‘Really,’ she whispered, twisting the ring round and round her finger.

  ‘You might want to stop doing that, then.’

  She looked up, her eyes meeting Ronnie’s. ‘What?’

  ‘Twisting that ring round and round like that. It could give off the wrong signal.’

  She pulled her hand away as if it were on fire. ‘We should be getting back. Rico needs his nap.’

  ‘He looks like he’s napping just fine there to me.’

  ‘I’m tired, Ronnie. I want to go back to the villa and just lie by the pool, listen to some music…’

  ‘Shut out my nagging.’

  She looked at him, smiling slightly. ‘Yeah. Exactly.’

  ‘Okay,’ he sighed, standing up and flicking the brake off Rico’s pushchair. ‘Sounds like a plan to me. I’ve got a few hours yet before I have to head back to London.’

  ‘What time’s your flight?’

  ‘Not until eight-thirty tonight. I would have stayed another day but they need me to cover Scoreline tomorrow, seeing as you’re here. I’m kind of guessing they’d prefer to have you back on board, though. You’re far prettier, and I’m sure the viewing figures go up when you wear that yellow dress and those pink heels.’

  ‘You need to stop hanging around with Kevin when you’re back up north. His sexism is starting to rub off on you.’

  He smiled at her, reaching out to take her hand, giving it a quick squeeze. ‘I don’t want our relationship to be like this, Amber. I want us to be close again. Like we used to be. This tension, I hate it. I want my girl back. I want my best friend.’

  ‘And you know what you have to do, Ronnie. Just deal with the fact me and Jim – we’re together. And that isn’t going to change. No matter what happens.’

  *

  ‘Can I have a word, Ryan?’

  ‘What are you doing up here?’ Ryan asked, surprised to find his agent standing there, unannounced, on his doorstep.

  ‘I need to talk to you.’

  ‘That sounds ominous. What have I done now?’

  ‘Nothing. Not unless there’s something you’ve omitted to tell me.’

  ‘Jesus, wipe that look off your face, will you? You could try trusting me, for once.’

  ‘Can I come in?’

  ‘Oh, yeah, sorry.’ Ryan stood aside to let Max through, closing the door behind him. ‘Amber’s okay, isn’t she?’

  ‘Amber’s fine, as far as I know. Would have thought you’d know more about that than me.’

  ‘Haven’t spoken to her for a couple of days.’ Ryan followed Max into the kitchen, leaning back against the counter, his hands in his pockets. ‘She did send me a picture of Rico yesterday, though. With some of his Spanish family. I love that kid so fucking much, Max. And when I see him with her…’

  Max watched as Ryan trailed off, his eyes lowering to stare at the floor. ‘You okay?’

  Ryan looked up. ‘I’m fine. You want something to drink?’

  ‘Coffee would be good.’

  He turned to grab the jar of coffee from the shelf, spooning some out into the machine, switching it on and turning back to face his agent. ‘What’s up, Max? It’s quite obvious now that you haven’t come all the way up here to bollock me, which is good, because I’ve actually been a very good boy lately. So, you gonna tell me why you are here?’

  ‘There’s nothing wrong, Ryan. It’s just that, with the end of the season looming, I thought it was time to talk about what happens next.’

  ‘What happens next?’

  ‘Your contract’s up at the end of the season, so, we need to start thinking about what’s best for you now. What the next step is.’

  Ryan frowned, folding his arms as he looked at Max. ‘We know what my next step is. We’ve already talked about this. Now the latest round of crap is behind me, I’m looking for a London club.’

  ‘That’s what you want?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s what I want, what’s the matter with you? You know all this, Max. I owe Newcastle Red Star a hell of a lot, and I’ll be forever grateful to them for the help they’ve given me and the trust they’ve put in me. I’m sure a lot of clubs would have just washed their hands of me by now. But I want to be near my son. I want to be near Rico. So, if they do offer me a new contract, I won’t be taking it. You got that?’

  Max nodded. This kid really had grown up. Could what Max was about to do set him back, rather than make things better?

  ‘You’ve been putting feelers out, right?’ Ryan asked, his voice breaking into Max’s thoughts.

  ‘Sorry, what?’

  ‘London clubs. You’ve been seeing what’s out there, who’s interested. Haven’t you?’

  ‘Oh, yeah. Yeah. I’ve been working on something.’

  Ryan’s frown deepened. ‘Working on something? What’s that mean?’

  Max turned his head to look out of the window, taking a brief second to gather his thoughts. ‘There’s an opportunity, Ryan. For a player like you.’ He finally turned back to fa
ce Ryan. ‘More money than you could ever imagine, a relocation package that is out of this world…’

  ‘A London club?’

  Max briefly looked down, taking a deep breath before he faced Ryan again. ‘L.A.’

  Ryan said nothing for a few seconds. He just stared at his agent as though he were trying to work out whether he was joking or not. ‘I’m… sorry. L.A.?’

  ‘The American game is growing bigger every year, Ryan. Some of their teams are attracting world-class players, some real big names – you could be a star over there.’

  ‘I’m a frigging star over here, Max, why the hell would I want to go to fucking L.A.?’

  ‘Okay, listen… just, hear me out. Hear me out.’

  Ryan pushed a hand through his hair. ‘London clubs, Max. I asked you to look at London clubs who were interested in me, so why would you even think about L.A.?’

  Max took another deep breath, trying to stay composed. The last thing he needed was for Ryan to think he was as unsure of this whole situation as his young player was. ‘If you move to London, Ryan, this… this dangerous cycle of you and Amber…’

  ‘Whoa, okay. Hold it right there. You don’t think I should move to London because you think I’m just going to spend all my time pursuing my ex-girlfriend?’

  ‘Well, no, that isn’t what I was going to say, but…’

  ‘But it’s what you mean?’

  ‘You’re still in love with her, Ryan. And don’t stand there and tell me you aren’t, because I can see it. Every time I look at you I see it.’

  ‘It isn’t a fucking crime to love somebody, Max. And this has got nothing to do with which club I move to next…’

  ‘It’s got everything to do with it, Ryan. And you know that.’

  ‘No, hang on. Because you seem to think I’m still hell-bent on getting Amber back, your professional opinion is that I should move halfway across the frigging world?’

  ‘It’s not my professional opinion, Ryan. My professional opinion is that you are a world-class player, and staying in the UK isn’t going to hurt your career at all.’

  Ryan stared at him, his eyes wide and questioning.

  ‘I’ve been with you for so long, kiddo. I’ve been with you through some incredible highs and some devastating lows. And I just don’t want anything to put your career at risk again.’